Naranjito de Triana
Who is Naranjito de Triana?
José Sánchez Bernal, known as Naranjito de Triana, was born in Seville in 1933. Born a payo, he inherited his stage name from his father, a municipal guard nicknamed for his job collecting oranges, and grew up immersed in the flamenco atmosphere of the Triana neighborhood, the cradle of some of the most distinctive cante styles of Seville.
He made his public debut at only eight years old in a performance in Coria del Río, and shortly after joined folk shows alongside the dancer Nancy Díaz and, around 1947, the children’s company “Los Chavalillos de España.” His career suffered a first serious setback when he had to undergo throat surgery that kept him away from cante for three years; once he recovered, he reappeared at the Parrilla del Hotel Cristina, marking the start of his adult professional period.
Career
Once recovered, he became part of the Compañía Juvenil de Ases and toured accompanying figures such as Pepe Pinto, Marifé de Triana—known as “la emperaora”—and Antoñita Moreno, with whom he toured stages in the Americas and Europe. He also performed at leading tablaos such as Los Gallos in Seville and, from 1964, Las Brujas in Madrid, two of the temples of cante of the era.
One of the high points of his career came in 1967, when he took part in the Festival de Mairena alongside Antonio Mairena, Fernanda and Bernarda de Utrera and Juan Talega, among other great names of the flamenco of the time. With Antonio Mairena he also recorded the “Misa Flamenca,” alongside Luis Caballero and El Poeta. His first recordings were made in the Netherlands and New York, with Sabicas on guitar.
Palos and discography
His cante spanned a broad and demanding repertoire: seguiriyas, soleá, tangos trianeros, bulerías, martinetes, tonás and peteneras, styles he mastered with the authority of someone who had grown up listening to them in his own neighborhood. That mastery earned him recognitions such as the cantes de Levante prize at the Concurso Nacional de Arte Flamenco de Córdoba, the Saeta de Oro from Radio Nacional de España in Seville, the Premio Ondas from cadena SER, the title of Trianero del Año, the Yunque de Oro from the Tertulia Flamenca de Radio Sevilla, the Taranto de Oro from the Peña Flamenca “El Taranto” of Almería, and, in 1987, the Premio Nacional de Cante awarded by the Cátedra de Flamencología de Jerez.
Legacy
In his final years he withdrew from the professional circuit and devoted himself to teaching at the Fundación Cristina Heeren in Seville, passing on his experience to new generations of cantaores. He bid farewell to the stage with a recital at the 1996 Bienal de Sevilla. He was living on Triana’s Calle Pagés del Corro when, on 23 April 2002, he died in Seville from a heart attack, after undergoing treatment at a Madrid clinic for a serious illness.